1
1287.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
'' य
CO.
Reference :-
885
12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
MY LORD,
No. 122.
(STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.)
LAW OFFICERS TO FOREIGN OFFICE.
We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Lord Tenterden's
Temple, 11th January 1877. letter of the 14th December 1876, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to enclose a letter from the Colonial Office, and to request our opinion on certain points raised by it as to the application to the Straits Settlements of the Extradition Treaty between England and Holland.
That the Treaty, of which a copy was enclosed, was concluded on the 19th of June 1874.
That during the course of the negotiations which led to this Treaty it was ascer- tained that the constitution of Holland did not permit of the application of its pro- . visions to her Colonies, and it was consequently agreed that it should apply to the mother countries only. That it appeared to have been considered at that time sufficient for that purpose to omit the clause usually inserted in extradition treaties concluded by this country (of which an example would be found in Article 14 of the Treaty with Sweden and Norway, of which a copy was enclosed), by which the operation of the Treaty was expressly extended to the Colonies of the contracting parties.
Lord Tenterden was pleased to say that he was to observe, however, that the 1st Article of the Treaty with Holland provided for the mutual surrender of any persons who, being accused of certain specified crimes committed within the jurisdic- diction of the requiring party, shall be found within the territories of the other party, and that those words are similar to those of the Extradition clause of the Ashburton Treaty, and of the French Treaty of 1843, and of other treaties which have always been held to apply to the British Colonies, as is shown by the Acts passed to carry them into effect. That by an Order in Council of the 6th of August 1874, the Extradition Act, 1870, was applied to the Treaty with Holland without any reserva- tion whatever, and the first question upon which Lord Tenterden stated he was to request our opinion is whether, having regard to the language of section 17 of the Act, and to the general terms of the Treaty above cited, both the Act and the Treaty apply to and are legally in force in British Colonies, though contrary to the intention of the two Governments.
That the circumstances which had given rise to the inquiry were the following:- That in the Colony of the Straits Settlements extradition had hitherto been carried on under the provisions of an Indian Act (No. VII. of 1854), which was in force at the time when the Settlements ceased to form part of the territories of the Government of India; that by this Act, a copy of which was enclosed, fugitives from justice, accused of the crimes and offences therein mentioned, may be surrendered on the requisition of any foreign State, and, on complying with certain formalities, without the necessity of any convention and without reference to reciprocity. That this large power of extradition is of great advantage to the Colony, as it is only separated from the adjoining territories by a narrow strait which can be crossed in an open boat, and therefore liable from its geographical conditions to be inundated with fugitive offenders.
That the Government of the Straits Settlements were therefore very desirous not to lose the benefit of the Indian Act, but they were in doubt whether it had not ceased to be in force by reason of the application of the Extradition Act, 1870, to the Treaty with Holland by the Order in Council of the 6th of August 1874, which, as before observed, contains no exception or reservation as to the Colonies, or as to the con- tinuance of the Indian Act in the manner provided by sections 17 and 18. That your Lordship therefore desired to be informed whether, in the event of our answer to the first question being in the affirmative (namely, that the Imperial Extradition Acts and the Treaty with Holland are legally in force in British Colonies), we are of opinion that the Indian Act No. VII. of 1854 has ceased to be in force in the Straits Settle- ments as regards extradition with Holland and her Colonies.
▲ 18916.-129. 25.-12/84.